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Armageddon (2007)
Armageddon (2007) was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and took place on December 16, 2007, at the Mellon Arena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was the eighth event produced under the Armageddon name and starred wrestlers from the Raw, SmackDown!, and ECW brands. Eight professional wrestling matches were scheduled for the event, which featured a supercard, a scheduling of more than one main bout. The first of these was a Triple Threat match from the SmackDown brand that featured Edge defeating World Heavyweight Champion Batista and The Undertaker to win the title. The second was a singles match from the Raw brand, in which Chris Jericho defeated WWE Champion Randy Orton by disqualification. Orton, however retained the championship per WWE regulations that a title cannot change hands on a disqualification. The other was a tag team match from the ECW brand, in which the team of Big Daddy V and Mark Henry defeated the team of CM Punk and Kane. Attended live by 12,500 people, Armageddon received 237,000 pay-per-view buys. Critical reception to the event was mainly positive. Production Background The event was sponsored by Activision's Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. Armageddon was the last pay-per-view World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) broadcast in 480p standard definition. All WWE programming switched to HD in January 2008. Storylines The event featured eight professional wrestling matches with wrestlers involved in pre-existing scripted feuds, plots, and storylines. Wrestlers were portrayed as either villains or fan favorites as they followed a series of tension-building events, which culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches. All wrestlers belonged to either the Raw, SmackDown, or ECW brand – storyline divisions in which WWE assigned its employees to different programs. The predominant rivalry scripted into Armageddon on the SmackDown brand was between Batista, Edge, and The Undertaker, over the World Heavyweight Championship. At Survivor Series, Batista and Undertaker fought in a Hell in a Cell match for the World Heavyweight Championship. Edge (who was disguised as a cameraman at ringside) interfered and cost Undertaker the match. He was then given a title shot for the World Heavyweight Championship on the November 30, 2007 episode of SmackDown by SmackDown! general manager Vickie Guerrero, who was his storyline love interest. The same night Batista faced Edge for the World title. Batista looked set to retain his title once again, but Undertaker interfered and chokeslammed Batista, but Edge ran out of the ring to escape similar treatment. Theodore Long returned as Assistant general manager and booked Batista to defend the World Heavyweight Championship against Edge and the Undertaker in a Triple Threat match at Armageddon. The main feud on Raw brand was between Randy Orton and the recently returned Chris Jericho, with the two battling over the WWE Championship. Jericho returned to WWE on the November 19 episode of Raw, interrupting Orton during Orton's orchestrated "passing of the torch" ceremony. Jericho revealed his intentions to reclaim the WWE Championship in order to "save" WWE from Orton. He then laid a challenge to Orton with the WWE Championship on the line, which Orton did not accept. A week later Jericho cost him a match against Ric Flair to further convince him to accept the challenge. After Raw went off the air, Orton accepted the challenge. The main feud on the ECW brand was between CM Punk and Kane against Big Daddy V and Mark Henry. The rivalry started on December 4 edition of ECW, Punk was forced to choose either V or Henry to face in the main event; Punk chose Henry. Punk got a disqualification victory when Big Daddy V interfered. The two tried to double-team Punk until Kane made the save and attacked both Big Daddy V and Henry. This made the Armageddon match of Kane and CM Punk against Big Daddy V and Mark Henry. On December 11 edition of ECW, Punk and Kane received a victory against Deuce 'n Domino. Aftermath After the event, the feud between Randy Orton and Chris Jericho slowly died down. Jericho once again defeated Orton on the Tribute to the Troops Raw by disqualification when former SmackDown! announcer John "Bradshaw" Layfield entered the ring. After Jericho requested JBL's presence on the December 17 episode of Raw, JBL was outraged, left SmackDown, and announced his return to Raw to wrestle after a one-and-a-half-year retirement. The two began a feud with each other and had a match at the 2008 Royal Rumble in Madison Square Garden which JBL won by disqualification, when Jericho hit JBL with a steel chair. The feud between the World Heavyweight Champion Edge and Batista continued the following week on SmackDown!, where Batista challenged Edge to a title rematch, but the general manager Vickie Guerrero announced that it was a three-on-one title match with the Major Brothers(rechristened as the "Edge-heads" earlier that night) siding with Edge. After Batista pinned one of the Edge-heads, Guerrero announced that Batista could only become the champion by pinning Edge. After Guerrero restarted the match, Batista took advantage, and went to hit Edge with a Batista Bomb, but Curt Hawkins hit Batista in the leg with a steel chair, resulting in the entire team being disqualified. Due to the fact a title cannot be won when the champion loses by disqualification Edge retained the title. Rey Mysterio won a Beat the Clock match series and earned himself a match against Edge for the World Heavyweight Championship at the Royal Rumble, but Edge retained his title against Mysterio with help from Vickie Guerrero. Randy Orton began a feud with the new number one contender for his WWE Championship, the WWE Intercontinental Champion Jeff Hardy who earned himself a title shot by defeating Triple H in a number one contender's match at Armageddon. Orton gave Jeff's brother Matt, a running punt to the gut and then one to the head. Two weeks later, Jeff hit Orton a Swanton Bomb from the top of a 30-foot high scaffolding which knocked out both Orton and Hardy and they were taken off on stretchers. At Royal Rumble 2008, Orton retained his title against Hardy after pinning Hardy following an RKO. Results Other on-screen personnel See also * List of WWE pay-per-view events * Armageddon Category:Armageddon Category:World Wrestling Entertainment pay-per-view events Category:2007 Pay-Per-View Events